Waste Minimization Value Engineering Workshop for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Omega West Reactor Decommissioning Project
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c.o»f-%Dm»j' LA-UR- 9 5 = 4294 Title: Waste Minimization Value Engineering Workshop for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Omega West Reactor Decommissioning Project L L 1_.3 "vatf' hsr„i K —' ^ST! Author(s): Michelle L. Burns, EM/P30 Suzanne L. Hartnett, Benchmark Environmental Corp. Nicole R. Seguin, Benchmark Environmental Corp. & 'S'sSi J- A =2 ** SIHHSi•8 l HIPIII Submitted to: 8 Waste Management '96 Conference Tucson, AZ •i!51 E 8 February 25-29,1996 S c •gg!Mltf£eB,B' it •go !'J|PT a c p *o .c cu u " E «> ° -v w K O <*? .» *> ^ «> a 2 S *° ? 3 y •3 6 II iliife Los Alamos NATIONAL LABORATORY Los Alamos National Laboratory, an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract W-74Q5-ENG-36. By acceptance of this article, the publisher recognizes that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, royalty-free license to publish or reproduce the published form of this contribution, or to allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes. The Los Alamos National Laboratory requests that the publisher identify this article as work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy. FocmNo.836R5 ftim-r-. ST»» 10/91 DISTRIBUTION OF THIS DOCUMENT 16 UiyU$gg_ WASTE MINIMIZATION VALUE ENGINEERING WORKSHOP FOR THE LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY OMEGA WEST REACTOR DECOMMISSIONING PROJECT S, Hartnett and N. Seguin Benchmark Environmental Corporation M. Burns Los Alamos National Laboratory, Environmental Management, Pollution Prevention Program Office ABSTRACT The Los Alamos National Laboratory Pollution Prevention Program Office sponsored a Value Engineering (VE) Workshop to evaluate recycling oprions and other pollution prevention and waste minimization (PP/Wmin) practices to incorporate into the decommissioning of the Omega West Reactor (OWR) at the Laboratory. The VE process is an organized, systematic approach for evaluating a process or design to identify cost saving opportunities, or in this application, waste reduction opportunities. This VE Workshop was a facilitated process that included a team of specialists in the areas of decontamination, decommissioning, PP/WMin, cost estimating, construction, waste management, recycling, Department of Energy representatives, and ouiers. The uniqueness of this VE Workshop was that it used an interdisciplinary approach to focus on PP/WMin practices that could be included in the OWR Decommissioning Project Plans and specifications to provide waste reduction. The OWR Decommissioning Project is currently in the planning and preliminary assessment phases. Preliminary waste projections were estimated and the Laboratory's Solid Radioactive Waste Management Group established a maximum volume of waste that will be accepted for disposal from the OWR. The decommissioning of a nuclear facility, such as the OWR, is expected to generate very large quantities of waste, including low-level radioactive waste (LLW), low-level mixed waste (LLMW) and hazardous waste (HW). Many of these waste materials (i.e., concrete, steel, wood, soil) may have a potential for recovery, recycle, and reuse. Because the high cost of waste management and the limited capacities for treatment, storage, or disposal of HW, LLW, and LLMW, all practical efforts need to be done to reduce the volume of waste generated. The VE Team evaluated the Preliminary Decommissioning Project Plans and recommended specific PP/WMin work practices that can be incorporated into the final Project Plans, operations, and contract specifications to reduce the volume of waste generated and increase the opportunity for material recovery, The VE Team considered decontamination, source reduction, recycling, and volume reduction techniques and technologies that are currently available at the Laboratory, within the Department of Energy, and in die commercial private sector. Emerging technologies or research and development technologies were not considered. VE Workshop results included: • Over 13 recommendations and action items identified • Specific PP/WMin practices that can be immediately incorporated to result in an estimated waste volume reduction of 84,712 ft3 of LLW, sanitary waste, and Toxic Substance Control Act waste and save approximately S1.17 million in waste management costs • Potential PP/WMin practices that could reduce an additional 44,190 ft3 of LLW INTRODUCTION MfllFir. The Pollution Prevention Program Office (PO) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (the Laboratory) pilot tested an effort to integrate individuals with pollution prevention and waste minimization (PP/WMin) expertise into environmental restoration (ER) and decommissioning programs. The objective of the integration was to demonstrate that PP/WMin techniques can be (and have been) applied to the Laboratory's ER and decommissioning activities to minimize the volume of waste requiring subsequent treatment, storage, or disposal and to reduce waste management costs. In addition, the effort identified potential tools and systematic approaches for reducing wastes from ER and decommissioning activities. As part of this effort, a Waste Minimizpiion Value Engineering Workshop was conducted to focus on reducing wastes and recycling materials from the planned decommissioning of the Laboratory's Omega West Reactor (OWR). The Value Engineering (VE) Workshop was sponsored by Laboratory's P30 and the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management, in cooperation with the Laboratory's Environmental Restoration Program, Decommissioning Project. Benchmark Environmental Corporation planned and participated as team leader in the workshop; and the workshop was lead by an independent certified VE facilitator. The VE Workshop evaluated the Preliminary Project Plans for the OWR Decommissioning Project and recommended over 13 specific PP/WMin work practices that can be incorporated into the project plans and specifications to reduce the volume of waste generated. This paper presents the results of the Waste Minimization Value Engineering Workshop and discusses the use of VE as a tool to minimize the waste generated from future DOE decommissioning projects. BACKGROUND The Laboratory's Environmental Restoration Program assesses and cleans up sites and facilities that have been contaminated from past DOE activities, including the safe decontamination and decommissioning of nuclear facilities that are no longer active. ER activities in general, and decornmissioning activities in particular, have the potential to result in large quantities of low-level radioactive waste (LLW), low- level mixed waste (LLMW), and hazardous waste (HW). There is a real challenge to reduce (or avoid) waste that will require subsequent treatment, storage, and disposal for several reasons including: limited on-site and off-site capacities for waste treatment, storage, and disposal; and the high cost of radioactive and hazardous waste management. In 1995, the 1^0 began integrating with the Laboratory's Decommissioning Project Office (DPO) to incorporate waste reduction practices, where appropriate, and to evaluate existing tools or systematic approaches for incorporating PP/WMin as a standard practice in future projects. Jointly, the P*0 and the DPO identified VE as a potentially effective tool for decommissioning projects to identify and incorporate PP/WMin practices. The OWR Decommissioning Project was selected as a test case for the VE process. The OWR Decommissioning Project was selected because it was in the planning and preliminary assessment stages and the project was expected to generate large quantities of waste, including radioactively contaminated soil, equipment, building debris, concrete, scrap metal, and personal protective equipment. It was then proposed to conduct a VE Workshop on the OWR Decommissioning Project that would focus on recycling and waste minimization practices that could be incorporated into the project plans and specifications. VE WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES MAP J VE is an organized, systematic approach for evaluating a process or design to identify cost saving opportunities. The process uses functional analysis to challenge the designers, engineers, and project planners to consider alternative approaches that provide the same function, VE has traditionally been applied to engineering design projects in the conceptual, Title I, or Title JJ phases and it has provided significant return-on-investment of the costs spent to conduct the study and implement the VE recommendations. The VE Team included decommissioning representatives, PP/WMin representatives, cost estimators, construction specialists, decontamination specialists, waste management, recycling specialists, and other appropriate technical personnel. The primary objective of the VE workshop was to identify and recommend specific work practices (e.g., segregation) and PP/WMin practices that can be incorporated into the Decommissioning Project Plans and operations to reduce the volume of waste generated and increase the opportunity for material recovery. The specific objectives included: • Identify and prioritize specific decommissioning activities that are expected to generate waste • Identify recycling opportunities and work practices that will reduce waste or increase material recycling • Identify available technology or services needed to implement the PP/WMin practice • Develop draft language for specifications or procedures to guide implementation of the waste minimization or waste reduction ideas • Develop preliminary cost estimates